Publications
Partners
Cape Town – ICYMI Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps "raced" a great white shark for Discovery's Shark Week. (Read more here)
For the segment Phelps raced against a CGI shark. The shark obvs won.
Watch the race here:
The moment of glory for #TeamShark!!! #PhelpsVsShark #SharkWeek pic.twitter.com/NWYp1CwiRa
— Shark Week (@SharkWeek) July 24, 2017
Viewers were quite upset as they thought Phelps would be racing a real life shark.
Check out some tweets here:
Turns out “Michael Phelps races a shark” was really just “Michael Phelps swims alone and then compares his time to a shark’s time.”
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) July 24, 2017
When you find out that Michael Phelps isn't actually racing an actual shark pic.twitter.com/6KwHGaWXc9
— t (@tatummowery) July 24, 2017
So you mean to tell me Michael Phelps didn't even race a real shark? It was just a simulation. I'm mad. More like Shark WEAK! pic.twitter.com/gwIGTe7Y9p
— Frank Costa (@feistyfrank) July 24, 2017
smh Michael Phelps isn't actually racing a shark. He's just racing a simulation of a shark. Biggest scam of 2017
— Marcus ¬ (@M_Frosti) July 24, 2017
The gold medalist took to Facebook to address the backlash he has received.
In the video he says that it was one of the most amazing experiences of his life and it was a dream come true to learn more about sharks. He goes on to say that swimming next to a shark while he was in a cage would be difficult and the way they did it was the best way it could have been done.
"If somebody wants to get into the water and race alongside a shark go ahead, you're not going to get the shark to swim in a straight line. It would be interesting," he says.
He also went on to say that the production made it clear exactly what the race would entail and that people decided not to listen.
"I thought it turned out incredible. I'm going to say that for the rest of my love because I loved it."
Watch the full video here:
In a statement to Variety Discovery said that all the promotion and interviews made it clear that the challenge wasn't a side by side race.
"During Michael’s pre-show promotion, as well as within the first 2 minutes of ‘Phelps vs Shark,’ this message was clear and we are thrilled with the audience and the engagement around the world."
